> I know of no evidence that a guard or soldier
> bee has any such awareness of threat, the
> concept of colony, or potential risk to self
> (death due to stinging).
>> Then why is it that a bee harasses me in the yard,
>> zinging around my head and buzzing my hair or
>> baseball cap, but as I move farther away from
>> the hives it leaves me alone? It seems clear to me
>> that it perceives sufficient threat to the colony to
>> warn me off but not enough to sting me.
Here is an experiment that we all have time for, but it requires a less-than
"defensive" hive.
I can and do requeen any of my hives that are unduly defensive, under my
mantra "Life's too short to work pissy bees."
So, here's the set up.
1) Remove your veil.
a) Seriously, they won't kill you.
2) Work the yard as usual. Listen.
3) At some point, you will hear the high-pitched whine of a bee on
afterburners. This bee will fly close to your head, or straight into your
forehead.
4) The bee will NOT sting you, but will instead head-butt you, which likely
gives the bee a concussion. I call these bees "kamikaz-bees".
5) The is the colony warning you that the next bee will sting. You have
been missing this warning for years, because you wear your veil.
6) If you have good ears and good reflexes, you can swat the kamikaze-bee,
I try to clap cupped hands around the bee, which stuns but does not kill,
which avoids killing the bee about half the time.
7) Now, continue working that colony, even if you have nothing more to do -
within 5 mins, ANOTHER kamikaz-bee will attempt to intimidate you.
8) Do nothing about the 2nd kamikaze-bee. You will be stung within a few
mins of continued messing around with the hive.
Now, while most of us have left a hive open for so long, this happens when
teaching, as novices simply take longer. I have used my ears, and taken
heed of the high-pitched whine, suggesting that students put up their veils
(or on) at that point, and thereby made the process more pleasant for all,
bees included. If you have some musical background, a normal bee flight
speed is 200 Hz or below, G natural, or lower. When the bee is trying for
maximum speed, you'd hear a B-flat or higher, 233 Hz or above.
Draw your own conclusions about the ability of bees to be "aware", but note
that much of bee "communication" is going to be hard to explain if you
stunned or killed the first bee to head-butt you.
>>> It behoves those complaining to provide us
>>> with alterative nomenclature.
I would explain the majority of bee "intelligence" as being the net result
of thousands of individuals reacting to their own external conditions
consistently, quickly and flexibly.
As an example, somehow, everyone working in NYC gets to work every day,
despite many obstacles, from subway lines that are shut down, to multi-hour
backups on the bridges and tunnels that connect Manhattan to the rest of the
world, to entire streets shut down for visiting heads of state, parades of
all types, and random gas-line or manhole explosions. Some people listen
to the radio, with traffic reports every 10 mins on two different stations,
others use various cellphone apps that use real-time data to show the actual
flow of trains or autos. I avoid rush hour when I can, but it runs from
8am-10am and from 3pm-7pm every weekday, so even though I am just moving
around within Manhattan, I also must join the throngs and adapt. Even once
actually on a train that is (be still my heart!) actually moving, we have to
stay flexible, a typical announcement being: "This A train is now a D train
running on the F line between Canal street and Jay St /Metrotech, for
service to York street take the C Train to Hoyt-Schermerhorn".
But somehow, at all sorts out, despite the constant chaos. I live on a
small island off the eastern seaboard of the US that is more like a beehive
than anyone wants to admit.
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